Many teachers compare building your life to building a house for the simple reason that from the foundation to the roof each phase of addiing unto that house depends on other pieces of the building to move on.

I liken the skills of Aikido to the knowledge of skills I have attained through years of experience fixing boats and motors.

I have many different tools, and indeed differnet systems to fix. Some days I am an electricial, some days a plumber, some days I am a hydraulic expert, other days I am a fiberglass technician.

All these differenct skill require the learning of both materials, systems, and operations of these systems to understand how to use them or repair them.

Everyone has skills in something. Liken the training of Aikido to whatever you do, and understand that each small movement in Aikido is an interconnecting piece to understanding how to learn a skill.

If you must break it down to smaller movements, counting them out by numbers until your mind absorbs the knowledge, then do so. But, and this is for you to decide, you must piece all these things together so that you will be comfortable in applying the skill.

Eventually, the practice becomes knowledge, and the knowledge becomes thought, and the thought becomes movement/ or deed.

To get slightly off the subject...

When martial arts became popular in the late sixtys, I used to wonder what all those movements were in those movies. When Bruce Lee challenged the MA community, I had no idea he was doing the exact same thing I sometimes get involved in with posts on the Aikiweb.

Now when I watch those movies, I am telling my kids this is kote gaieshi, or iriminage, or some other derivation of movements from numerous techniques.

Of course I get the"Dad, I am trying to watch this movie", but being able to pick out the reality of practice from the fantasy of choreography, with real practice arts and movements of my class studys being shown, it kind of makes the training worthwhile.